Firearms, such as rifles, oftentimes include a hand guard so a user can readily grasp the firearm effectively. For example, the user may need to grasp the firearm for carrying, transport, and firing of the weapon. Such a hand guard may be especially useful with longer firearms such as rifles. The hand guard should also be generally designed to accommodate for any recoil produced by the weapon during use.
Furthermore, hand guards may oftentimes be used for affixing accessories, such as lights, laser sights, scopes and other accessories to the firearm. In this regard, the hand guard may include a plurality of connection points, such as openings, for receiving accessories and/or accessory mounts for coupling one or more accessories to the firearm.
However, prior hand guards oftentimes suffer from a number of deficiencies. For example, hand guards, or at least a portion thereof, may need to be removed to permit cleaning, disassembly, and/or removal of parts of the firearm. Many prior hand guards involved complicated mechanisms for coupling and uncoupling portions of the hand guard to a firearm. Further, tools and small parts are also oftentimes used in prior hand guards to assemble the hand guard. In this regard, such hand guards may be more difficult to remove in the field as tools may not be readily available and/or small parts and fasteners may be easily lost. For example, some firearms include gas tubes that may need to be removed or serviced in the field, thereby requiring removal of at least a portion of the hand guard. However, prior hand guards may not be entirely suitable for field servicing, such as of gas tubes, because of the complicated mechanisms and small parts that may be easily lost in the field.
Additionally, as noted above, many hand guards also include connections for coupling accessories to the hand guard and ultimately, the firearm. However, when portions of the hand guard are removed, along with the accessories, it is possible for certain accessories, such as scopes and laser sights, to lose their alignment or otherwise “lose their zero.” This can be especially noticeable on longer weapons where minor changes in the orientation of the hand guard may significantly affect the alignment of any attached accessories.